LANGUAGE IN INDIA Strength for Today and Bright Hope for Tomorrow Volume 12 : 12 December 2012 ISSN 1930-2940 Managing Editor: M. S. Thirumalai, Ph.D. Editors: B. Mallikarjun, Ph.D. Sam Mohanlal, Ph.D. B. A. Sharada, Ph.D. A. R. Fatihi, Ph.D. Lakhan Gusain, Ph.D. Jennifer Marie Bayer, Ph.D. S. M. Ravichandran, Ph.D. G. Baskaran, Ph.D. L. Ramamoorthy, Ph.D. Assistant Managing Editor: Swarna Thirumalai, M.A. History of the Recognition of Bodo Language as Medium of Instruction in Assam Kusum Brahma, M. A. ================================================= Abstract Language in India www.languageinindia.com 12 : 12 December 2012 Kusum Brahma, M. A. History of the Recognition of Bodo Language as Medium of Instruction in Assam 55 The Bodo are known as earliest indigenous inhabitants of Brahmaputra valley. They were the dominant people group of Assam till the Ahom came to Assam. Racially they are of Mongoloid origin and linguistically they belong to Tibeto-Burman family of Bodo-Naga sub- group. But this important people group has no written record about their past educational system as well as the development of their language. Because of the lack of written mode their language remained confined to spoken form till the twentieth century. In this paper an attempt is made to analyse the historical development of Bodo language as medium of instruction in Assam. Introduction Bodos are known as the earliest indigenous inhabitants of Brahmaputra valley. They were a dominant people group of Assam. They had their own kingdoms, religion, culture and language. In earlier times, they were not known by the name of the Bodos, they were known by different names in different times and different ages. In epic period they were known as Kirata, Danava or Asura, in ancient and medieval periods as Mech, Kacharis and Bodo. But with whatever names they are known to others, they like to call themselves as Bodo or Boro (Sydney Endle). It is interesting to note that racially the Bodo groups belong to Mongoloid origin whose homeland might have been somewhere in Mongolia, Siberia, China, Tibet or Central Asia but linguistically they are included under the Tibeto-Burman speech family of Bodo-Naga sub-group. It is seen from the writings of different historians that they came to Assam at about 2000 B.C. along the bank of the Brahmaputra River. In the present paper, Bodo will mean only those Bodo speaking people whose language has been included in the Eighth Schedule of the Indian Constitution. Emergence of Bodo Language as a Medium of Instruction at the Primary Level – Formation of a Literary Club The emergence of Bodo language movement began with the formation of Bodo literary society, known as Bodo Sahitya Sabha (BSS) on 16thNovember, 1952. The students of the Dhubri Government Higher Secondary School and the local businessmen first established a literary club of the Bodos in 1952 for the development of the Bodo language and literature. Birendra Narayan Patgiri was the president, and Rajendra Nath Brahma was the nominated Secretary of the club. Bandhuram Kachari, Modaram Brahma Kamini Brahma, Sikendra Language in India www.languageinindia.com 12 : 12 December 2012 Kusum Brahma, M. A. History of the Recognition of Bodo Language as Medium of Instruction in Assam 56 Brahma, Barada Kanta Basumatary and some other well-known educated Boros were the active members of this club. However they soon realised that confining the activities of the literary club within Dhubri alone would not serve the purpose of the community. Hence, they decided to expand their activities including all the Bodos of Assam and other states in its meeting held on 8th and 9th September 1952. Accordingly, a general meeting was held at Kokrajhar High School on September 1952, which was presided over by Satish Chandra Basumatary. In this meeting a decision was taken to call for a two day educational convention at Basugaon on 15th and 16th of November, 1952 with a view to forming a larger literary organisation for the Bodo community as a whole at Basugaon. A preparatory committee was formed to go ahead with the resolution of the convention under the chairmanship of Jogendra Basumatary. A reception committee was also formed on 7th of October, 1952. The Convention The convention was thus held as per the scheduled with two days programme on 15th& 16th November at Basugaon. The convention was chaired by Dharanidhar Basumatary M.L.A., and also was attended by Rupnath Brahma, the Ex- M.P., writer and social reformer of Assam. Founding of Bodo Sahitya Sabha On the second day of convention, i.e., on 16th November 1952 ‘the Bodo Sahitya Sabha’ the apex literary body of the Bodo was formed. Jaybhadra Hagjer was elected as the first president of the society and Sonaram Thaosen as the secretary and Jogendranath Basumatary as the joint secretary of the society. One of the main purposes of the formation of B.S.S. was to develop and expand Bodo language by introducing it as the medium of instruction for Bodo children in the primary schools of the Bodo majority areas of Assam. Hence Bodo Sahitya Sabha passed a resolution and on 26th February, 1953, the Sabha submitted a memorandum comprising of the demands for introducing Bodo language at the primary school level in the Bodo dominated areas to Bishnuram Medhi, the then Chief Language in India www.languageinindia.com 12 : 12 December 2012 Kusum Brahma, M. A. History of the Recognition of Bodo Language as Medium of Instruction in Assam 57 Minister of Assam. A copy of memorandum was also submitted to Mr. Bimala Prasad Chaliha, the then Congress President of Assam State Committee. The Use of Assamese Words in Body Textbooks In 1956, the Assam Government composed some books in Bodo language. But Bodo Sahitya Sabha rejected the books as they contained a number of Assamese words. At the same time, the Assamese speaking peoples’ movement regarding the introduction of Assamese as an official language of the then entire Assam became a dominant force. In spite of the strong opposition raised by the other ethnic groups of plains and hill areas, Assamese was declared as the official language of Assam in 1960. As a reaction, the hill people demanded English as their official language; the people of Barak valley demanded Bengali as the official language in their Barak valley and the Bodo Sahitya Sabha demanded implementation of Hindi language as the official language which is acceptable to all. But ultimately the government of Assam accepted the three language formula, i.e. Assamese in Assam, English in Hill areas and Bengali in Barak valley as viable alternatives. This posture of the Assam government and the fear of Assamese domination among the communities awakened the Bodo Sahitya Sabha and some Bodo intellectuals to start its language movement afresh. The Issue of Census Enumeration In the Executive meeting of the B.S.S. the issue of 1961 census enumeration was raised. The Executive Committee strongly demanded that the Bodo people would show their language not as Assamese but as Bodo, religion as Bathou, Brahma or Christian in the next census enumeration. Plea for the Introduction of the Bodo Language in the Schools Again, for the second time, the Bodo Sahitya Sabha submitted a memorandum to the then Chief Minister entitled ‘Scheme for the Introduction of the Bodo Language in the schools situated in the Bodo Speaking Areas.’ This memorandum attached a detailed scheme relating to the appointment of teachers, formation off the Text Book Committees, etc. On its birth day, i.e. 16th November 1962, the Sabha organised a rally. More than twenty thousand people gathered in Kokrajhar town and participated in rally. The rally gave the Language in India www.languageinindia.com 12 : 12 December 2012 Kusum Brahma, M. A. History of the Recognition of Bodo Language as Medium of Instruction in Assam 58 slogans in unison demanding introduction of Bodo language in schools of majority Bodo populated areas. At that time Bimala Prasad Chaliha became the Chief Minister of Assam. Soon after this event he assured the leaders of the Bodo Sahitya Sabha to fulfil their demand He constituted a committee named ‘Study Committee’ under the leadership of the then Forest Minister Rupnath Brahma to look into the feasibility of the Bodo demands. The committee submitted its report in February, 1963. On the recommendation of the Study Committee, Chief Minister Bimala Prasad Chaliha officially announced government decision to introduce Bodo language as the medium of instruction in primary schools in a ceremonial function held in Kokrajhar Higher Secondary School field on May 18, 1963. Implementation Language in India www.languageinindia.com 12 : 12 December 2012 Kusum Brahma, M. A. History of the Recognition of Bodo Language as Medium of Instruction in Assam 59 Thus the Bodo language was first introduced as medium of instruction in the Lower Primary schools of Kokrajhar Sub-division from the academic year of 1993. The Bodo students got an opportunity to study in their own language. As per the conditions of the order of implementation, the state government was bound to take the responsibility to supply a special kind of textbooks to enable the students to cope up with the new syllabus. But the government failed in performing this responsibility. The first batch of 415 Bodo medium students after completion of their primary education (class III) in 1967 faced lots of problems in pursuing their higher study. The Assam Government had not taken any immediate steps to solve this problem. Hence, the Bodo Sahitya Sabha demanded the extension of Bodo language up to Middle Elementary school level in its Central Committee meeting held at Gossaigaon on 10th and 11th October, 1967.